COOKE, Elisha, politician, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 16 September, 1637; died 31 October, 1715. He was graduated at Harvard in 1657. After serving as an assistant under the old government, he was sent to England in 1689 as the agent of Massachusetts for the restoration of the charter. Being unwilling to submit to any abridgment of the liberties of the people, he opposed the new charter in 1691. He was elected councillor in 1693, and rejected by Governor Phipps, but was re-elected in 1694, and continued in the council till 1703, when Governor Dudley negatived his election, continuing to do so for several years in succession. He was a physician by profession, and was highly esteemed as such. He served in places of public trust over forty years.--His son, Elisha, born in Boston, 20 December, 1678; died 24 August, 1737, was graduated at Harvard in 1697. He was a representative to the general court from 1713 till 1734, and in the former year opposed a public bank. He was elected to the council in 1717, took the popular side against Governor Shute, and, on his re-election in 1718, was informed by that magistrate that "his attendance at the board would be excused." In 1720 he was elected speaker of the house of representatives, but was rejected by the governor, who dissolved the assembly when it refused to admit his right to control its action. He was agent for the province in London in 1723, and was again chosen to the council in May, 1726, soon after his return. He was appointed a justice of the court of common pleas in Suffolk county in 1730. Mr. Cooke was long the leader of the popular party in the province, and published several political tracts.